Well, it's official. By an overwhelming vote (over 99%), my church has called Bruce Chesser to be its new pastor. Yes, most people knew that last week, but I did not want to put it on my blog until Bruce had the opportunity to share it with his church.

Today it was announced that I will be the Interim Teaching Pastor at First Baptist Church of Hendersonville, TN.

Looking forward to this Sunday. Talking about church in Los Angelels is nice. But, God has chosen the church to make known his manifold wisdom in the World (Eph. 3:10).

This Sunday, I will share about the whole "in the world but not of the world" challenge. Here is the introduction:

Being the Church in Culture: How to Be in but Not of the World

How do you answer the apparent contradiction of the next two verses?

1 John 2:15 (HCSB) Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

John 3:16 (HCSB) "For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

Thesis: You can be in, but not of, the world if you place your loyalty in another Kingdom, longing and living for Jesus, in the Lordship of Christ.

Focal Passage: Philippians 3:20 (HCSB) "Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ."

We will work through Philippians 3:20 to get how having your citizenship elsewhere enables you not only to live in the world, but to live incarnationally and engage it for Christ.

I recently mentioned that I am preaching each week at a local church.

I am doing a sermon series right now called "The Church Inside Out." It is a thematic series, built around missional church ideas.

I appreciate the folks here willing to listen to a yankee preacher in a TN town. Also, preaching a "missional church" series at such an established church is always both a challenge and a blessing.

Here are my message notes from last Sunday. You can listen to the audio here.

God's Purpose in the Church

The church is being the church when it is a body on mission for God's Kingdom.

There are two models to consider:

Building + Clergy + Program = Church (Constantinian model)

Body + Mission + Kingdom = Church (Biblical model)

1. Body: Focus on Being rather than Doing Church

The church is being the church when it is a body on mission for God's Kingdom.

There are marks of doing that make a true church, but they are not what peope typically think. Most people see the "essentials" as building, clergy, and program. That is the wrong focus.

Those can be tools... but too often tools become rules and we begin to focus on them and not the fact that the church is a body.

Continue reading The Church Inside Out.

About a month ago, I started preaching at First Baptist Church of Hendersonville, TN. I have written before about their pastor and his death. The folks at First Baptist asked me to fill their pulpit and I agreed to do so until the end of the year.

I am going to invite the church to visit here at the blog each week in a new feature I call "Toward Sunday."

In "Toward Sunday," I will tell a bit about what I am preaching, perhaps post what I preached the week before, and tell any other information that might be helpful. Since I know that the vast majority of my readers do not go to church at FBC, I will work to make it applicable to all.

Yesterday, I attended First Baptist Church of Hendersonville, TN. Actually, it was the second week I attended -- last week we worshiped with the congregation and heard Ergun Caner preach.

Yesterday was to be the first day of a several week sermon series I would be preaching at First Baptist, but something else was more important: their beloved pastor is struggling and is very ill.